Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

You are here: Home / Music / The boot, the roots, the reggae on my stereo

The boot, the roots, the reggae on my stereo

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A friend of mine just sent me this YouTube video of Neil Diamond returning to his old neighborhood in Brooklyn. He talks to people on the street (many of whom are West Indian, I think) and one guy asks him what songs he did, he runs though a few, which the guy has never heard of, before mentioning “Red, Red Wine”, which the guy knows the reggae version of.

I actually didn’t know that Neil Diamond wrote “Red, Red Wine” because I only know the reggae version, but it got me thinking about something I’ve thought about before….there seem to be reggae versions of pretty much all songs. The strangest I’ve heard is the 70s tear-jerker “You Left Me (Just When I Needed You Most)”, but I can’t find it on YouTube. Here’s a reggae group rocking the Christopher Cross.

Of all the reggae versions of songs you’ve heard, which one surprised you the most?

For those who aren’t reggage fans, a Neil Diamond question: what Neil Diamond song represents for you the essence, or quintessence or whatever the right word is, of Neil Diamon? For me, it’s September Morn, which edges out Love On the Rocks, because of how exaggerated the whole behind-the-beat-singing thing is.

Update. If you go into preferences and disable java script, the blog seems to load normally. Probably a good idea to do that for the next few days.

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  9. 9.

    MattR

    If we are talking reggae covers, the masters are the Easy Star All Stars. They have done Dark Side of the Moon, OK Computer and Sgt Pepper in their entirety. Here’s Time from Floyd and Airbag from Radiohead. (EDIT: Or iriepirate21’s link right above)

  11. 11.

    jl

    That’s a really weird juxtaposition, to talk about Neil Diamond in a music thread.

    Wow!

    Once I get my head wrapped around that one, I’ll get back with something about reggae cover songs.

  12. 12.

    forked tongue

    For me, the song that represents the quintessence of Neil Diamond is “Porcupine Pie,” because it has been cited more than once as the crappiest song ever recorded in the history of the world, and that pretty much represents Neil Diamond to my mind.

  13. 13.

    Amir_Khalid

    Oddly enough, the music I associate most with Neil Diamond is the soundtrack album for Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Quite unlike anything else he ever did, but if I recall correctly it made more money than the movie itself.

    Other than that, I’m inclined to go with something like Cracklin’ Rosie or I Am … I Said.

  14. 14.

    Adam

    Reggae cover of “Red Red Wine”? Are you talking about the UB40 cover? ‘Cause that’s “reggae” the way the Monkees were “acid rock” or Billy Idol is “punk”.

  15. 15.

    jacy

    Being as this is an open thread, and it has been a shitty week both on the home front and the world front, I will mention that last night I ran into an example of conservative fuckery in my kid’s textbook.

    I’m spitting mad, and if you’re bored you can see why here.

    I’m going to now see how much alcohol mixed with cold medicine it takes to induce a coma.

  16. 16.

    stuckinred

    Walking down the road
    With your pistol in your waist,
    Johnny you’re too bad.
    Walking down the road@jl:
    With your ratchet in your waist,
    Johnny you’re too bad.

    You’re just robbing and you’re stabbing and you’re looting and you’re shooting
    Now you’re too bad.
    You’re just robbing and you’re stabbing and you’re looting and you’re shooting
    Now you’re too bad.

    One of these days when you hear a voice say come
    Where you gonna run to
    One of these days when you hear a voice say come
    Where you gonna run to

    You’re gonna run to the rock for rescue
    There will be no rock
    You’re gonna run to the rock for rescue
    There will be no rock

    The Slickers

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRm7j2UL3YY

  17. 17.

    JGabriel

    Breaking Up Is Hard To Do is the quintessential Diamond song.

    It’s kitsch, it’s camp, it manages to both trivialize its subject and be overblown at the same time. It’s the embyonic ur-Diamond tune, containing all his faults and limited pleasures. And Breaking Up is so freaking catchy that merely mentioning the song title will get it stuck in your head, on earworm rotation, for the next month.

    .

  24. 24.

    Svensker

    Cracklin’ Rosie. Cheesy, but catchy.

    I worked with Neil D. a hundred years ago and he was a very nice guy.

  25. 25.

    Andy K

    @forked tongue:

    My dad was a big ND fan when I was a kid in the early ’70s, so I kinda like the guy’s work- up until the mid-to-late ’70s. At that point he became a pure schlockmeister.

    That said, I still recommend that anyone who likes Diamond’s earlier songs go see him in concert. He’s a great performer with a great band, and there aren’t too many places you can watch women in their mid-60s flashing their boobs.

    Oh, and Diamond always gives you cues that it’s alright to go get something to drink, like, “This is a song I wrote in the ’80s/90s,” or, “This is a song I wrote with my son.”

  26. 26.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    Junior Reid’s cover of Eleanor Rigby on the album One Blood.

    And I once heard an excerpt of Marty Robbins’ “Big Iron” in a reggae song.

    And there are many, many reggae covers of his song El Paso, the worst one I’ve heard was by Daddy Freddy.

  27. 27.

    JD Rhoades

    There used to be (still may be for all I know) a band called Dread Zeppelin, which specialized in reggae-fied covers of Led Zeppelin tunes. Their lead singer was an Elvis impersonator who went by the name of Tortelvis. The only one I remember clearly was a truly bizarre version of “Living Loving Maid.”

    And I was listening to Neil Diamond just this morning. Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show, in fact. But I regard Sweet Caroline as his signature.

  28. 28.

    JGabriel

    @JGabriel: Oops. I just realized I’ve spent the last 35 years blaming Neil Diamond for Neil Sedaka’s sins.

    Sorry, Neil. Either one, it doesn’t matter. I’m can’t to decide which of you should be more insulted by comparison.

    Though if pressed, I guess Diamond deserves the apology marginally more than Sedaka. While no one can take I’m A Believer away from Diamond, it’s hard to think of a song anyone would want to take away from Sedaka.

    .

  33. 33.

    Matt T.

    @Adam:

    Actually, reggae singer Ken Boothe cut “Red, Red Wine” back in the early ’70s, and that’s where UB40 got the idea. Swamp pop singer Charles Mann does a pretty nifty cover of it, too.

    In 2005, Willie Nelson released a record called Countryman that found him doing a couple Jimmy Cliff songs (“The Harder They Come” and “Sitting In Limno”) and reggae-ing up a few of his chesnuts like “One In A Row” and “Undo The Right”. It was originally started in ’95 under Don Was, who was working with Willie and Waylon at the time, and intended for release on Island records until label nonsense put it on the back burner. It’s… ehhh. It doesn’t quite work, honestly, partly because the guy Lost Highway brought in to finish up production made it all to garish and loud, a la most rock and country production of the mid-2000s. The version of “Darkness on The Face of The Earth” is pretty neat, though.

    Also, on one of his solo albums, Shane MacGowen of the Pogues covered “Cracklin’ Rosie.”

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    what Neil Diamond song represents for you the essence, or quintessence or whatever the right word is, of Neil Diamond?

    Diamond’s 1966 single, Solitary Man. A solid, melancholy pop song, which represents his best work as an artist.

    From an audience response standpoint, it’s a toss up between Sweet Caroline and I’m A Believer, the latter of which was written for the Monkees.

  35. 35.

    forked tongue

    @Amir_Khalid:

    Well, it’s not just me saying it.

    But I don’t really belong in this discussion, since to me the sound of Sarah Palin’s voice is like Mozart compared to Neil Diamond’s music. I don’t even care that he wrote a handful of listenable Top-40 tunes in the 60s. Some things just aren’t forgiveable.

  36. 36.

    liberty60

    “Play Me” from Diamond’s early 70’s singer-songwriter phase is my quintessential Neil Diamond.

    As with others of that era, the later slide into pop and arena bombasticism got tiresome and grating, but I am still a sucker for the folk-tinged acoustic work.

    By the way, Neil Diamond, like Barry Manilow, earned his living as an uncredited songwriter before making it big- he wrote some of the Monkees stuff, but i am having asenior moment as to which ones.

  37. 37.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    Going the other way around, I kind of like Sinead O’ Connor’s cover of Gregory Isaac’s Night Nurse except for the “patient by the name of Sinead-y” part. RIP Gregory.

  38. 38.

    Matt T.

    @Brachiator:

    On the re-release of Arthur Alexander’s last album before he died, Lonely Like Me, there’s a hotel room recording of “Solitary Man” with only an acoustic guitar for accompaniment. Alexander was one of soul’s great unknown heroes, and if you know anything about his history – and his tragic death just after the release of the aforementioned record – as well as his usual themes of being love’s odd man out (the title track, “Anna (Go To Him)” and countless others) the song’s stark beauty becomes that much more poignant. Good stuff.

  39. 39.

    R-Jud

    @Svensker:

    Cracklin’ Rosie. Cheesy, but catchy.

    Yeah, this is what I think of when I think of Neil Diamond, because people always sing it at me. I hate that.

    Edit: reading down the thread, I see there’s a Pogues cover of Cracklin’ Rosie. That might make it bearable.

  44. 44.

    Pangloss

    My best friend from elementary school co-wrote Diamond, A Biography, Contemporary Books, 1987.

    If you think you know too much about Neil Diamond after this thread, how would you like to be in his self-inflicted hell?

  46. 46.

    Bobby Thomson

    As for Neil, my family dug him back in the 70s (especially the Tap Root Manuscript album) but pretty much everything from the Jazz Singer on is absolute crap.

    Saving Silverman was still pretty wretched, though.

  48. 48.

    MikeJ

    When I was a teen just starting to sneak into bars to hear bands play, I had a nodding acquaintance with the sound guy, and he was also in a band. I can’t give an unbiased assessment of a cover version of a song I heard in 1982, but Solitary Man has been my favorite Neil Diamond song since. Punk bars are where you find the best Neil Diamond covers.

  52. 52.

    forked tongue

    @Matt T.:

    Fun trivia fact that as far as I know, I’m the only one ever to have remarked upon:

    Arthur Alexander was the only artist to have either written or recorded the first version of songs that were later recorded by Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

    (He wrote “Anna” [Beatles], “You Better Move On” [Stones], and “Sally Sue Brown” [Dylan], and didn’t write but did record the first version of “Burning Love” [Elvis]. If you put that as a trivia question to people, most of them will guess Chuck Berry, but Dylan never covered him.)

  55. 55.

    Jewish Steel

    With the oh so site relevant line, “I’m sick of arguing with white dudes on the internet,” I nominate my current fave “You Oughta Know” By Das Racist.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzCukmO4fhg

    Or if you’re feeling meta:

    How about “Oh Carolina” by Shaggy, a dancehall version of the proto reggae Folkes Bros. song.

    Or Chaka Demus and Pliers’ dancehall cover of Toot’s “Bam Bam.”

    I’ve mentioned here before that Mos Dub (Mos Def/roots reggae mash-ups) and Enter the Magical Mystery Chamber (Wu-Tang/Beatles and reggae Beatle cover mash-ups) are dreadtastic.

  58. 58.

    MikeJ

    @Adam: Generation X was considered punk at the time, and since that time was late 70s engerland, it’s probably a legit label. And the lead singer was Billy Idol.

  62. 62.

    DanF

    @Svensker: I concur – Cracklin’ Rosie.

    One thing about Neil Diamond is that, despite what one may think of his music, he is a fantastic arranger and he can really compose a hook.

  64. 64.

    Culture of Truth

    2 more thoughts:

    I always liked that the Dukakis campaign used “Coming to America” even though it made certain voters break into a cold sweat.

    The quintessential Neil Diamond skit is one where Will Farrell plays Diamond in a recording session talking about killing a hitchiker.

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @Matt T.:

    On the re-release of Arthur Alexander’s last album before he died, Lonely Like Me, there’s a hotel room recording of “Solitary Man” with only an acoustic guitar for accompaniment.

    Very nice stuff about Arthur Alexander. I’ve heard some of his songs, but didn’t realize the extent of his importance and influence on pop music. From his Wikipedia entry, there is a link to an interview with Richard Younger, the author of Get a Shot of Rhythm and Blues: The Arthur Alexander Story. There is this little tidbit:

    There is an incredible vulnerability in Arthur’s voice and it never sounds affected. Also, his songs were very original and memorable, compelling stories tinged with rich emotion. Perhaps most importantly, Arthur’s singing and songwriting were adored by the British rockers of the early 1960s, including The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who recorded his “Anna (Go To Him)” and “You Better Move On,” respectively. The latter song, Arthur’s first single for Dot Records in 1962, was also the first hit record to be recorded in Muscle Shoals.

  74. 74.

    ReneeW

    One of my favorite reggae covers is Luciano’s Knockin On Heaven’s Door from Is It Rolling Bob. I’ve been listening to reggae for, oh, about 40 years, and this one is amazing.

  75. 75.

    burnspbesq

    Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau is the current king of the out-of-left-field cover. See, for example, the 20-minute-plus version of “Black Hole Sun” on “Brad Mehldau Trio Live.”

  76. 76.

    geg6

    When I was young, “Sweet Caroline” came out during the summer and they played it incessantly at our private pool club. It will always be the essence of Neil Diamond, to me.

    However, I consider “Solitary Man” my personal favorite song of Diamond’s. I like the sentiment (I’ve had my own troubles with the opposite sex and took myself out of circulation for a while because of it). And one of my favorites, Chris Isaak covered it. In fact, here’s a video with my girl, Stevie, dueting with him:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrkai_o0uiU&feature=player_embedded

  77. 77.

    AZmando

    Yikes! Cracklin’ Rosie? When that one gets into my head and won’t go away, I think I would prefer waterboarding to having that thing looping through my brain.

  78. 78.

    burnspbesq

    The unlikeliest cover ever? I respectfully nominate international opera superstar Renee Fleming’s version of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World”

  87. 87.

    John O

    I think ND was my third concert or so, and I went with a clique of the cutest and coolest high school hot chicks. Chicago Stadium, maybe ’77?

    It was, as they say, big fun. I would argue this was about his peak.

    For pure Neil, I’d go with Holly Holy, since it’s preachy, exultant, catchy, and kitsch. He really was a great show.

  90. 90.

    eemom

    @Andy K:

    I kinda like the guy’s work- up until the mid-to-late ‘70s. At that point he became a pure schlockmeister.

    Totally, utterly this. I can’t think of a more drastic example of talent gone to schlock, cuz his early stuff is really good.

    Contrast to Paul Simon, who was also one of my very first musical heroes, whose creativity has never ceased.

    @DougJ

    The strangest I’ve heard is the 70s tear-jerker “You Left Me (Just When I Needed You Most)”, but I can’t find it on YouTube.

    wow, I’d love to hear that. I totally swooned to that song when I was 17 years old.

  91. 91.

    MikeJ

    For interesting covers, I really like Camper Van Beethoven’s cover of the album Tusk. Not just the song, the whole album.

    I know Linda Ronstadt covered a whole Warren Zevon album. I feel like there are a few other notable covers of entire albums, but they just aren’t coming to me right now.

  92. 92.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    or those who aren’t reggage fans, a Neil Diamond question: what Neil Diamond song represents for you the essence, or quintessence or whatever the right word is, of Neil Diamon?

    Solitary Man.

  93. 93.

    Brachiator

    @geg6:

    However, I consider “Solitary Man” my personal favorite song of Diamond’s. I like the sentiment (I’ve had my own troubles with the opposite sex and took myself out of circulation for a while because of it).

    I like to think that there is an almost direct line from a song like Solitary Man to Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams, perhaps with a detour at Neil Young’s The Loner.

  95. 95.

    J Frank Parnell

    Of all the reggae versions of songs you’ve heard, which one surprised you the most?

    “Money” from the Easy All Stars’ “Dub Side of the Moon”

    what Neil Diamond song represents for you the essence, or quintessence or whatever the right word is, of Neil Diamon?

    I like his version of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” from “Tap Root Manuscript” — especially when he gets all verklempt at the end! As a kid, I listened to that and “Cracklin’ Rosie” about eleventy kajillion times.

  98. 98.

    GOPhuckYourself

    Incident that allegedly happened after Diamond’s set from The Last Waltz, as Diamond passed Bob Dylan backstage:

    Diamond: You’ll have to do something pretty hot to top that.
    Dylan: Yeah, like fall asleep.

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    @MattR:

    Stranger rap cover – Nina Gordon doing a slowed down acoustic version of Straight Outta Compton or the Gourds doing a bluegrass version of Gin and Juice?

    When I was a college freshman, a group of guys who had known each other barely a week puled out their guitars and eventually fell into a great bluegrass version of the Toots and the Maytals song Pressure Drop.

  101. 101.

    DFH no.6

    As a couple others (Makewi and Culture of Truth) have noted, Neil Diamond = Sweet Caroline.

    Must have heard it on the AM radio a half dozen times one blissfully magical day in the long ago time on an unchaperoned trip with my girlfriend to Cedar Point (fresh-faced high school kids that we were). Sure, N.D. mostly sucks, but not that song.

    In fact, most oldies suck, so anymore I pretty much listen to what the kids are into these days, like Sleigh Bells, Ra Ra Riot, Gorillaz, Kanye West, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Basement Jaxx, Flaming Lips, all that Coachella stuff. Somewhere in there is today’s Neil Diamond, no doubt. But I’m not sure who that would be.

  102. 102.

    Josh R

    How about jazz versions of reggae? I absolutely love Charlie Hunter’s take on Bob Marley’s ‘Natty Dread’.

  103. 103.

    MattR

    @Brachiator: That story just sounds like it should end with something like “Those three guys are now known as The Police”. :)

    PS. Thanks DougJ. You inspired me to throw on the Easy Star All Starts album Radiodread. I forgot how much I like the whole thing.

  105. 105.

    Studly Pantload

    No mention of Diamond’s Holly Holy? No matter what you think of the song, there’s no denying it’s as big as the sky and that he thoroughly chews his way through performing it. Quinessential Diamond, in my book.

  106. 106.

    Mike B

    I heard a reggae version of “The Internationale” once. I don’t know who did it, though.

    It’s starting to sound relevant to me, these days, with the way this country is going.

  107. 107.

    calipygian

    As for best reggae cover, I’m surprised noone has mentioned Toots and the Maytals “Country Roads” (yes, John Denver). Magical.

    And as for most unusual cover, my nomination is the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s cover of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”. Shouldnt work, but does.

    Another contender for best cover is a Ukrainian polka band “Los Colorados” covering Katy Perry “Hot and Cold”. Again, strange magic.

  109. 109.

    gogol's wife

    And I would vote for “I am I said” because of the quintessentially stupid lines, “And no one heard at all / Not even the chair.”

  110. 110.

    calipygian

    @DFH no.6: Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is STILL massively popular (in a studied, ironic way) among 20 somethings.

    It’s the “BOM BOM BOM” chorus and the call and response “so good, so good, so good” that hooks ’em in.

  112. 112.

    Cat Lady

    @Tracy:

    It’s Christmas 1974, I’m a DFH home from college and my much older brother who’s been overseas and whom I wasn’t very close with gives me what I can clearly see is a double record set, and since I really really wanted Miles of Aisles I was psyched to see his present for me under the tree. I was so sure it was Joni Mitchell, and then…. it’s a Neil Diamond AND a Neil Sedaka album. I was speechless, and he ended up listening to them the whole time he was home. :-(

  113. 113.

    Pappy G

    All his stuff from the 60’s is just glorious, glorious pop music. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon has to be the pick of the litter. Anything after 1977 is dispensable. At least that’s what I say in public.

  115. 115.

    R-Jud

    @eemom:

    Contrast to Paul Simon, who was also one of my very first musical heroes, whose creativity has never ceased.

    Speaking of Paul Simon AND reggae, there is this:

    Mother and Child Reunion.

    I love that man. I’d scoop him up and stick him in my pocket.

  116. 116.

    Mike G

    @gogol’s wife:

    And I would vote for “I am I said” because of the quintessentially stupid lines, “And no one heard at all / Not even the chair.”

    Which prompted Dave Barry’s classic response:
    I pointed out that this does not make a ton or sense, unless Neil has unusually intelligent furniture. “Mr. Diamond, your barcalounger is on line two.”

  117. 117.

    DFH no.6

    @calipygian:

    Yeah, seen that one in action a few times between sets in a couple of joints I frequent here in the Pits of Hell… I mean, Phoenix AZ, like Club Red and the Rhythm Room.

    For me, “Sweet Caroline” will never be a song that I experience in a studied, ironic way, but only because of its personal connection to me with the heady wine of first love, not because it’s actually a very good song.

    I do get a kick out of the kids enjoying it in the manner you described. Cracks me up.

  119. 119.

    Cris

    Call me a backseat driver, but I wouldn’t go suggesting that people browse your site with Javascript disabled, when you’re counting on ad revenue that’s mostly driven by JS.

  120. 120.

    shecky

    “Play Me” always pops in my head when I think Of Neil Diamond. I think of being in the car as a kid in the 70s with that playing on that extinct entity, the AM pop music station.

    Dread Zeppelin is fun, even if they were a novelty act.

    I’m not a big fan of reggae, but Freddie McGregor did a fantastic tune, Natural Collie, that was essentially a ripoff of an R&B tune “You Are My Starship” by I forget who, which had a completely different lyric and was much more syrupy.

    ETA: Freddie McGregor’s Natural Collie:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQt-c5RlPdM

    Original “You Are My Starship” by Norman Connors:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC3pLlBD0wo

  123. 123.

    DFH no.6

    @Cat Lady:

    Reminds me of a cringingly-embarrassing album gift I got around that same time from a well-meaning family member.

    Here I was, mostly into music back then like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tangerine Dream, etc., and because I also enjoyed a fair amount of Motown (like most of my contemporaries) I received a record by… the Stylistics.

    Sure, Motown was already morphing into the horror that became disco, but that was really tone deaf, to coin a phrase. And my sweet relative insisted that I play it immediately so she could see how much I enjoyed it. Only time I ever played it.

    Neil Sedaka would have been even worse, of course.

  125. 125.

    Cris

    @DFH no.6: You should at least listen to the Stylistics sing “You are everything, and everything is you” over and over while you trip on LSD. I bet that would be wild. Hypothetically.

  127. 127.

    gbear

    In 1964 I got an album for Christmas in a gift exchange between cousins. Everyone in the family knew I was a complete Beatlemaniac, so when I saw I was getting a record I tore into the wrapping, only to discover that my 5 year old cousin had picked out ‘It’s A Magilla Gorilla Christmas’. My aunt was watching and saw the look of horror on my face and offered to exchange it, but I was polite and told her I would enjoy the gift, lying liar that I was.

    My Neil Diamond 45 would be Solitary Man b/w Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show. Sweet Caroline is a close third. Love On The Rocks blows chunks.

    @BGinCHI: I’ve got the 45.

  130. 130.

    DFH no.6

    @Cris:

    Thanks, Cris, and MikeJ before you, for putting those earworms in my head.

    Just because I only played my Stylistics record once doesn’t mean I didn’t hear those songs probably dozens of times in the halcyon days of yore. And now they’re back to haunt me. Time to go listen to some Fuck Buttons, or perhaps some LCD Soundsystem (speaking of studied and ironic).

    And maybe take Cris up on the suggestion (the second part, that is). Though tripping balls while listening to “you are everything, and everything is you” would, no doubt, be wild.

  131. 131.

    worn

    Late to the party as usual…

    Most surprising reggae cover (for me, at least, given the tremendous differences in their sonic approaches) was recently stumbling onto the Upsetter tune Rebel’s Train, which is a re-worked version of that famous track MFSB by The Sound of Philadephia.

    But hell, I just learned a couple of months ago that Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” a cover of a song from 1969, so YMMV…

  133. 133.

    gbear

    @MikeJ: I’m sure you’re collection is a lot broader than mine. I was picking up a lot of the local Mpls stuff around that time, but not much beyond the Twin Cities (although I have REM’s Hibtone 45). Did you ever pick up a single by NNB called ‘Slack’? That’s kind of the holy grail of Twin Cities singles from that era.

  134. 134.

    cleek

    @DFH no.6:

    Here I was, mostly into music back then like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tangerine Dream, etc., and because I also enjoyed a fair amount of Motown (like most of my contemporaries) I received a record by… the Stylistics.

    which is the mirror of what i got for my 15th b-day.

    i was into The Cure, REM, Talking Heads, etc.. and my step-great-grandmother (who didn’t know a thing about me, in fairness) got me Led Zeppelin’s Presence.

    i sold it to my stoner buddy for a $5 bag of ditch weed.

    2 years later, i was totally into Zeppelin, of course. but i still wonder why Presence?

  136. 136.

    King Quaker

    Early reggae singers & musicians were greatly influenced by American R&B (Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, The Drifters, Ray Charles, Shirley & Lee, Chuck Jackson, Solomon Burke, etc., – the list could last all day); and covers of R&B hits to play in local dance-halls was a huge part of the early recording industry in Jamaica. These were often referred to as a “version”.
    “Covers” have always been appreciated as a valid form. A way to pay homage plus a way to interpret and make a few bucks.
    Neil Diamond’s “Red, Red Wine” was covered by Tony Tribe (whose version UB-40 subsequently covered). Got that?
    This was not limited to R&B. Johnny Clarke made a living covering Bob Marley & Burning Spear.
    U-Roy gave birth to Rap by covering John Holt and the Paragons.
    A few outstanding reggae covers:
    Eighteen With a Bullet – Derrick Harriot
    Country Road – Toots & the Maytals
    Baby I Need Your Lovin’ – The Heptones
    Brown Eyed Girl – Steel Pulse
    Any Day Now – Dennis Brown
    Perfidia – Phyllis Dillon
    I’ve got Dreams to Remember – Toots
    Love and Happiness – Toots
    Duke of Earl Dub – Tommy McCook
    The Way You Do The Things You Do – Eric Donaldson
    These are but a few.

  138. 138.

    Joel

    kind of cheating, but for years I didn’t realize that “One Love (People Get Ready)” was in fact the Wailers’ cover version of “People Get Ready” by the Impressions.

  139. 139.

    Richard W. Crews

    nO MENTION OF dREAD zEPPELIN? a REGGAE BAND DOING lED zEP COVERS WITH AN eLVIS FRONT MAN! iT’S THE BEST! a GREAT SHOW, AND THE MUSIC IS VERY GOOD. tHE WHOLE SCHTICK; FGAT ELVIS WITH A TOWEL MAN AND JUMP SUIT, ROCKIN’ BAND GOING INSANE BETWEEN HEAVY zEP AND SPACED REGGAE./

    a MUST IN YOUR LIFETIME!

  144. 144.

    Andy K

    @Bill Murray:

    Covering the Shaggs is heresy…or blasphemy…or…well, just wrong. Long live those three mysterious young ladies who, for reasons unknown to me, were not cast in major roles in any of the Billy Jack movies. ‘Cause, dammit, if there was anyone who embodied the spirit of the Freedom School, it was The Shaggs.

  147. 147.

    Capn America

    Echoing some of the others, Neil Diamond = Sweet Caroline = Fenway Park to me. The song always reminds me of Boston.

    As for reggae, it’s also surprisingly huge in Europe.

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